The moment he stepped into the vortex, Ding Yan distinctly felt a burning sensation in his soul, as if an unknown fire had been ignited within his soul.
"Why do I, as a consciousness, have the feeling of my soul burning?" Ding Yan's eyes flashed as he continued to walk forward.
With each step forward, the burning in his soul became more and more intense, and even Ding Yan couldn't help but furrow his brows. Fortunately, the vortex did not exist for a very long time. After walking for about a dozen or so breaths, Ding Yan left the vortex. As he left the vortex, the burning sensation in his soul also disappeared, replaced by a clear feeling, as if the impurities in his soul had been incinerated.
Closing his eyes, Ding Yan rested for a long time before opening them again.
The previous nothingness had long disappeared, and what came into view was an infinite starry sky!
The vast expanse of the star river was boundless and the rotating stellar nebula was awe-inspiring.
This was the lowest level of the illusory Nine Heavens, the ninth layer of the Illusory Void Heaven!
Standing on the darkness, Ding Yan looked at the distant stellar nebula, his gaze flickering.
"Is this the Ninth Heaven? An illusory starry sky that forms its own realm, but unfortunately only a consciousness can enter..."
After observing for a while, Ding Yan tried to fly forward for a long time, but soon found that no matter how he flew, he couldn't touch the star river ahead. It was as if this expanse of starry sky was also moving with him.
"It seems impossible to go past." Ding Yan stopped in the void, carefully examining this world.
Stars, infinite darkness.
Ding Yan quickly discovered that there was no elemental force in this world. No matter what cultivation method he used, he could not sense elemental force. However, in this world, there existed a nameless force, extremely powerful, but only ascended immortals could sense it.
"It's a pity that I am only a conscious entity now, otherwise, I could try to see if my Qiankun Dao Scripture can absorb the power here," Ding Yan lamented.
The Qiankun Dao Scripture was the peerless cultivation method Ding Yan had achieved during his previous life, reaching the stage of transcending calamity. It was also the primary cultivation method of the Qiankun Sect. However, after his reincarnation, Ding Yan tried to cultivate the Qiankun Dao Scripture, but unfortunately, no matter how he cultivated, he couldn't sense the existence of elemental force, let alone absorb it into his body. Up to this point, the cultivation methods Ding Yan had practiced still originated from the memory of the original owner of his body.
Later, on the unnamed island, he obtained the martial arts imparted by the old village chief. After contemplating for a long time, Ding Yan improved it into a set of practicable methods. However, at most, he could only cultivate to the level of an ascended immortal. Beyond that, Ding Yan could not comprehend it.
Time passed second by second.
Ding Yan did not know how long he had been in this void world. It seemed like a month, yet it felt like half a year had passed.
During this time, Ding Yan tried many methods, but none could take him into the nebula. It was right in front of him, yet he couldn't enter. This strange situation finally reminded Ding Yan of a nearly forgotten supernatural power from his previous life's memories.
More accurately, it was a fairy method.
"Within this vast expanse... there exists a fairy method?!" Ding Yan was shocked by his own thought.
Fairy methods, supernatural spells that surpassed Daoist techniques. Each fairy method possessed tremendous power, and since ancient times, every cultivator who mastered a fairy method was an extraordinary and historical figure.
Having reached the stage of transcending calamity in his previous life, Ding Yan clearly knew how much help mastering a fairy method would be.
Suppressing his astonishment, Ding Yan began to observe the trajectory of this fairy method. However, he quickly realized that he couldn't learn this fairy method at the moment and felt deeply regretful after understanding this. The existence of a fairy method was something many cultivators might not encounter even in their lifetime. In his previous life, Ding Yan had cultivated for over a thousand years and still had not come across a fairy method.
It could be said that encountering a fairy method was a matter of fate, unrelated to cultivation.
Thinking of this, Ding Yan sat down directly and expanded his consciousness infinitely, beginning to comprehend the mysteries of this starry sky.
One day.
Two days.
Three days...
It wasn't until the fifth day that Ding Yan opened his eyes, and in the depths of his pupils, a fleeting inexplicable aura flashed.
"What a pity."
Even after five days of comprehension, Ding Yan still couldn't fully understand the mystery of the fairy method. He only vaguely saw a blurry handprint. This handprint could not even be considered a glimpse of the fairy method. With a sigh, Ding Yan got up, organized his thoughts, and after taking note of the handprint, he stopped wasting time on comprehending the fairy method.
It's not that he didn't want to learn, but he couldn't even get started. It was like a kindergartener trying to understand advanced mathematics, completely incomprehensible, let alone learning.
In fact, there have been quite a few people who discovered the existence of fairy methods from ancient times to the present. After all, from ancient times to the present, who knows how many years have passed. During this time, there would inevitably be some extraordinary individuals, and even these individuals, none of them could comprehend the mystery of a fairy method. There wasn't even anyone who knew the name of this fairy method.
The fact that Ding Yan could recognize this fairy method and then conjecture a vague handprint based on the name of the fairy method was something even those with extraordinary talent couldn't match. Moreover, Ding Yan had not gained nothing. After observing and contemplating for such a long time, he had gained some insights. For example, the vague handprint that Ding Yan felt. This was of great help to him. In the future, when he employed Daoist techniques, he could draw upon the aura of this handprint to make his Daoist techniques infinitely close to the fairy method. Of course, this speculation would need to be verified once he returned to reality.
After giving up his comprehension of the fairy method, Ding Yan began to search for the entrance to the next level of heaven.
There was a fairy method in the ninth illusory heaven, so what about the layers beyond?
Within the ninth illusory heaven, one couldn't feel the passage of time. Ding Yan didn't know how long had passed, but he vaguely felt like several days had gone by. Calculating the time, it seemed that nearly half a year had passed since entering the ninth illusory heaven. Of course, this was just Ding Yan's perception, and there was no way to confirm it.
One day, Ding Yan wandered aimlessly in the void.
Suddenly, a huge whirlpool appeared in front of him once again.
A passage! The passage to the eighth illusory heaven reappeared.
"So, this passage turned out to appear on its own," Ding Yan thought, looking at the starry sky behind him as if pondering something.
The nine heavens gave nearly half a year, presumably to allow the ascended immortals who entered to comprehend the mysteries of this starry sky.
Without hesitation, Ding Yan stepped into the whirlpool once again.
This time, the burning sensation in his soul was even stronger, and even Ding Yan felt a piercing pain. His consciousness irregularly trembled. However, Ding Yan quickly discovered this abnormality and suppressed the dissolution of his consciousness.
"This passage is a test!" Ding Yan quickly realized the purpose of the passage.
This passage turned out to be unexpectedly long, and after an unknown amount of time had passed, Ding Yan lifted his head, but still did not see the end. Meanwhile, his consciousness, under this terrifying force, became increasingly transparent.
"How could this be?"
As his consciousness was on the verge of dissolution, an unnamed ancient diagram suddenly entered his mind with a rumble. The horrifying information almost scattered Ding Yan's last trace of consciousness, a feeling as if he had been enlightened by an unparalleled master...
When Ding Yan came to, he realized that the burning sensation in his soul had long since disappeared, replaced by a clarity originating from his soul's depths.